Wadadli

Jimmy Buffett says:

Sailed off to Antigua.
It took her three days on a boat.
Lookin' for some peace and quiet;
Maybe keep her dreams afloat.


The Arawak name for Antigua is "Wadadli". It also happens to be the name of the local beer, which is pretty good by the way.

Antigua is a beautiful island and boasts 365 beaches. It is much more commercial than Nevis so some of the rustic island charm is lost, but its roads are a lot better ;). We arrived Friday evening and went to a restaurant called "The Beach". Original name, hey? Food there was very good. Saturday we spent the day in St. John's, the capital, and took advantage of duty free shopping at Diamond's International. Everyone can see my little "trinket" later. We also found a nice little wine cellar there.

Sunday, we drove to the south side of the island to English Harbor, Shirley Heights, and Nelson Dockyards. The south side is absolutely beautiful and not nearly as commercial. The old fort ruins are located there at Shirley Heights. These are truly ruins of the Fort, but the views were awesome. Apparently, there were no battles fought between the English and French here. (They must have reserved those for St. Kitts!). The Nelson Dockyards are restored and the harbor is a wonderful inlet that is a deep blue. This is where the annual Antiguan Sailing Days are held. Later in the afternoon we headed down to the Dickinson Bay beach. The sand is real fine and white on Antigua, not like the sand here which is more coarse. The beach we were at, though was a bit to vactioneeze for me. Too many people trying to sell trinkets or jet ski rentals. So, now we know!

Today, before our flight, we drove to the southeast of the island to Half Moon Bay. This little inlet boast enormous waves on the Atlantic side that any surfer would love. We tried a suggeted hike to a natural stone arch, but the trail was severely overgrown. To get there we had to climb a small mountain outcropping. We got quite far, but then a little bit of vertigo set in for me. Have you ever climbed to a point were you look out and all you see is water? Well, that's were we were. Except it wasn't just water, it was the crashing waves of the Atlantic. I could tell Brian wanted to keep going, but I didn't think it too safe for the kids. Between that, the vertigo, and the overgrown path we decided to head back down to the bay.